


On This Side of the Veil

by BandaBecca



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fade Sex, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 09:23:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13587126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BandaBecca/pseuds/BandaBecca
Summary: Corypheus has been defeated, and though the Inquisitor isn't haunted by his memory, she is, however, haunted by the memory of her lost love. Until they meet again, quite by accident, in the Fade...





	On This Side of the Veil

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to my bestie, Sarry, who inspired me to get my work out there (it all started with some fanfic porn).
> 
> Check out my bandabecca Tumblr if you like! And of course:
> 
> Enjoy reading!

The juxtaposition of things that had changed and things that had not still haunted her. Cullen drilled his men as rigorously as the day before the battle with Corypheus, Gatsi still lingered inside the door to the Main Hall interpreting the ancient dwarven tiles, Dagna still blew up a gauntlet or chest plate at least twice a month, and Mionette was still alone each night, sleeping in fits and starts to avoid spending too long in the Fade. To avoid seeing him.

‘Fade Walker’ was a name no longer on anyone’s lips, and the looks the others gave her was back to generic awe—no longer with a giggle hidden poorly behind a hand or worse, with pity. During the time after his disappearance, she questioned Leliana endlessly for any word of him, even just a whisper of his whereabouts from an untrusted source. Almost two years later, she had never heard such a whisper. One night when her candle had burned down to the wick, she lingered in the dark, weaving her fingers through the single moon beam across her desk. In the space frozen in time, the thought tickled her mind, wishing for the sleep she wouldn’t give it: had he ever existed at all?

As she climbed the steps, she pulled the last strands loose from her braid and quickly re-braided it, a habit she fell into when she was nervous or preoccupied. She caught herself fiddling and threw her hair over her shoulder where it swung loosely between her shoulder blades. She nodded to her requisitions officer as she walked through the doors to the Main Hall where only a few Inquisition soldiers were lagging behind finishing their dinner and chatting in small groups. She eyed the roasted ham where it sat, almost completely devoured and tried not to cringe; she knew she wouldn’t have the stomach for such a robust meal tonight. 

She was almost to her chamber room door when her step faltered. The outstretched hand which had almost reached the handle fell back to her side. A chill like cold water rippled down her arms and pooled in the tips of her fingers. She closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath. It was unmistakable.

The sweet fragrance of almond and vanilla tea separated itself from the heavier smells of meat which circled the space. She swallowed, but her throat was dry. She could see that day like a glimmer of the Fade taunting her even while awake.

 

As she approached, he took a quick sip from the metal cup before setting it on the desk a little too roughly, scrunching his nose in distaste and wiping his mouth as if ridding it of all remnants of the repulsive drink. The act so resembled a childish tantrum that she had to chew the inside of her mouth to keep from smiling. ‘Something wrong with your tea?’

‘It is tea. I detest the stuff,’ he said. She couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed since judging by the smell, it was almond and vanilla tea, a tea she always linked with happy times back with her clan watching the sun rise slowly to burn away the fog which settled over the camp during the night. He continued, ‘But this morning, I need to shake the dreams from my mind. I may also need a favour.’

She smiled at the thought of being able to give him any small something which would bring him the kind of joy she experienced when he did little things for her that he didn’t think she noticed. Like using his magic to clear the path in front of her or place thyme in a small jar next to the place where she always dined because he knew she loved the spice. ‘You just have to ask.’

 

She hesitated. Perhaps she should have forgotten him by now. Taken a new lover. It shouldn’t hurt like it did to think of him, and it certainly shouldn’t feel like her heart was being wrung out as she relived this memory. She turned, taking one step, then another. Her heart resisted, but her head led her forward in a haze. Another step, yet another. She passed Varric whose eyes followed her with a single raised eyebrow as she pushed open the door she had avoided for so long. The sound from the hall faded as she closed the door behind her and the silence settled over her like a cloak. 

The rotunda rose above her, the sharp cawing of Leliana’s birds slicing through the quiet on the top level. Her eyes followed one which dipped lower to the second level where the archivists worked alongside Dorian who was in his usual spot reclined in the reading chair, surrounded by books of all origins. Then at last, her feet took her the few remaining steps on the bottom level to the desk in the centre of the empty room, the chair behind it pushed back crookedly as if he would return any moment to begin more work searching for resources on the Fade. Even though no candles were present on this level, the colours filling the walls were visible in the torch light from above, casting an eerie orange light over his creations. The paintings stretched from the floor to the railing of the next level, sharp angles and smooth lines forming some recognisable figures, and some ancient Elven imagery she didn’t know the story of. All the questions she asked him of his journeys into the Fade, and she had never bothered to ask him about this.

Her eyes fell on his final portrayal, one he had completed only two days before the battle with Corypheus. In it, she was every inch the Herald of Andraste, gaze focused on some point above, left hand raised, anchor shining bright in a collision of greens, yellows, and whites. Her armour shone, the Inquisition’s sunburst just visible in the chest plate—a detail which still perplexed her when he knew, perhaps better than anyone, that she had refused to adorn herself in the symbol. Her legs were planted stubbornly, standing her ground, her right hand fisted at her side, solid and stubborn. But the face captured her attention, as surely it was meant to. It was a remarkable likeness—similar enough to her own face that it chilled her when she first saw it. Surrounded by her dark hair which flowed and whipped in the breeze, her expression was so determined that it looked harsh. It was a woman who was sure, was mighty, was terrible. In this portrayal, he had made her into the hero everyone saw. She knew he had always believed her capable, but she didn’t like that he pictured her that way, even if he had painted her this way only to please the other members of the Inquisition. 

But if he saw her this way, it almost felt as if it undid the private moments they stole away—like he had never kissed her forcefully enough to snatch her breath away on the balcony of her quarters. As if the day never happened when he took her hand and whispered in her ear that he had never seen anything so perfect after he watched her riding her Halla in the sun in the Emerald Graves. As if he had never wrapped his strong arms around her, pressing her body to his to lay a feather-light kiss under her ear.

The pain was a cold wind through her torso. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms trying to pull the shadow from her bones and focused instead on the blank spot on the wall he had never completed, the emptiness speaking almost as much as each of his images did. She had been right to never enter this room. Whatever answers she thought she might find here weren’t here. He was gone; it didn’t matter what he had said: No matter what comes, I want you to know that what we had was real.

The sound was a whisper, a breath barely having the force to pass her lips. ‘Solas.’ 

 

~~~

 

Walking through the rotunda, something didn’t feel right. She turned a slow circle in the middle of the room, taking time on each piece Solas had painted and stumbled in her reverie. Where once there had been a naked wall, a portrait now stood boldly. The splashes of blue danced on the inside of her eyelids like a dream as she ran out the door looking for the painter. The style was too similar…resembled too closely…She burst through, but instead of walking out onto the path leading to Cullen’s study, she stumbled into a wood. But that wasn’t the only enigma: she turned her hand over twice, where the anchor wasn’t just calm, it was gone. She ran her fingers over the spot where it should be, and the skin pressed and wrinkled the same as the skin covering the rest of her body would. The air smelled of conifer trees, and above all, she picked up the scent of silver fir. The aroma of the sticky sap and needles crushed underfoot conjured feelings of being at home with her clan. She stepped forward looking in every direction, but even though she knew the woods of the Free Marches better than anyone else in the clan, she didn’t recognise the space around her.

Her ears twitched at a sound behind her. Not as harsh as a twig snapping, but more akin to branches running along a body attempting to sneak through the forest. She turned to the sound, reaching over her shoulder for her staff, but her fingers grasped at air. She swallowed down her panic. Never mind, she didn’t need a staff to perform magic. She slid her left leg ahead of the right and extended her hands toward the sound. Whatever approached couldn’t stand up to her magic after the years she spent fighting creatures from the physical world as well as those escaped from the Fade. 

Through the pine needles, the figure moved gracefully as if Elven and bent one of the strong branches forward to pass through. It didn’t take a moment to recognise the bowed head before it straightened and the face took her in, startled.

She took a step back so shakily that she stumbled. ‘Solas?’ He looked different. The clothing which inspired Vivenne and Dorian to call him ‘unwashed apostate hobo’ had disappeared: he no longer wore modest trousers with feet uncovered, cream jumper with the wolf’s jaw necklace around it. Now he donned armour, heavy armour, not the light armour she usually dressed herself and the other mages in. The metal covering his body fit so closely to him that it looked like a second skin. It shone like gold but for a silver pauldron covering his left shoulder. Over the other, an animal skin was draped, and a light cloak flowed out behind him. He looked regal, and her mind skipped back to a memory of Keeper Deshana telling her a story as a child, the memory scrabbling to find purchase but failing to fully form.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, unsure whether to slap him or kiss him. The shock was beginning to wear off, and she found that the hole in her heart which his absence had left behind suddenly didn’t feel like it was bleeding anymore. Her reaction to seeing him wasn’t what she imagined it would be. She didn’t feel hostile. She was relieved. 

She was happy.

It was a half laugh and half exhale that gusted from her mouth as she strode forward. A smile flickered on Solas’s mouth as she closed the gap between them in a few short steps. The force of her approach slammed their bodies together as she closed her arms around his neck. His skin was warm on her cheek and his familiar smell swirled in her nostrils. Her mind filled with memories like phantoms of their shared touches in the past. 

She pulled away but didn’t let go, her arms scraping along the sharp edges of his armour. The question rose quickly. ‘Why did you leave?’

‘I didn’t want to, Vhenan,’ he said in Elven. He ran one hand along her cheek and down her neck. ‘It was…the considerations.’ His eyes darted away from her. ‘Forgive me.’ He focused again on her, his eyes traveling over her face, thumb tracing over her cheekbone where her Vallaslin once was. 

‘You’re different.’ She took his hand in her own. ‘Things are changing, aren’t they?’

He nodded, blinking long and looking at her almost as if he was sad, but something fierce moved behind his eyes.

His name was a whisper as her arms tightened around him. She still felt betrayed. She was still angry that he left and despised that he had done so without a word of explanation. She would get her answers from him, but she had missed him so much that she knew she needed this—needed him—first. The warmth in his eyes was rapidly turning to flame; a look she had seen him wear only once. A time when he had fought to cover his trousers before excusing himself hurriedly to his study. She had waited too long for word of him, and now she had him here in her arms. She wouldn’t waste it.

Her fingers ran along his jaw before she hooked her fingers around his chin forcing it up, exposing his neck. She leaned in close and slowly pressed her lips under his ear. She lingered there before biting him on the earlobe. He drew back quickly, but when he saw her smiling, looking up at him wickedly, he gave the smallest shake of his head before lunging forward, one arm around her, hand resting on her ass and the other pulling her head toward him roughly.

Her body came alive, hands frantically grasping at every inch of him. She pushed her body into his, felt him stumble and the rough jolt of his back slamming into a tree. The sound that came from him was half grunt, half moan. She opened her mouth and he immediately pushed his tongue between her teeth. His hands slipped under her shirt, rising to her breastband, his fingers pressing into her skin perfectly painfully. His fingers hesitated over the band and he leaned away, question in his eyes. Instead of responding, she held his gaze running her fingers down the animal fur and the armour until she reached his trousers. Her fingers found the leather strings holding them closed and gave it a yank strong enough to pull it completely out of the seams. She threw the useless leather to the side and pulled the animal fur away next, sliding it off his shoulder. She placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away slightly. In her voice she usually saved for Inquisitorial business she demanded, ‘take off your chest plate.’

A slow smile formed on his face as he reached under his arm to unbuckle the first clasp. ‘As you command.’ He removed the metal slowly, never breaking eye contact with her. But her eyes lost his as she instead watched him as he removed more and more layers. Soon he was standing in the thin and nearly transparent tunic underneath. Without the finery, he looked more like the Solas she knew and came to love. 

His trousers were open, but the growing bulge remained confined. She took a step closer and hooked one finger in the band of his trousers at his hip, trailing the finger closer and closer to the opening. When she reached the separated fabric, she plunged her hand inside and took his already hard cock in her hand. He groaned and jerked forward, his forehead touching hers. She licked his cheek from the corner of his mouth to his ear. ‘Was there something you wanted me to do for you?’ she whispered teasing, rubbing her thumb over the tip of his cock, already dripping precome.

‘Vhenan.’ His tone wasn’t a statement nor a request, but was laced through with uncertainty. Her grip slackened, worried she had done something—hurt him perhaps. Solas didn’t pull away, but his hands were clinging to the hem of her tunic, gripping until the knuckles were white. He paused only a moment then pulled the garment over her head, dropping it at his feet and circling his arms around her. He reached for the latch of her breastband and unclasped it with no hesitation. As her breasts were released from their confinement, she pulled his own shirt over his tight shoulders and pressed her naked chest to his. Solas’s breath caught, and he caressed her back, holding her closer while he ran his fingers through her hair with the other.

She kissed his shoulder once, twice, then led a trail to his neck. Both his hands roamed her skin, feeling every inch of her stomach before taking a handful of each breast. A growl rose from deep in his chest as he leaned away enough to gaze upon her nakedness, her breasts overflowing between his fingers. He took his time with the sight before dragging his eyes to her face. ‘How long have I waited to touch you this way…’

She shook her head. ‘No longer than I.’

His mouth dashed to her neck, open lips pressing to the skin there, the flicks of his tongue giving her goosebumps. She closed her eyes as his kisses continued to her collarbone, biting her. She cried out in surprise and pleasure, and he soothed the spot with a slow lick. She looped her hand around his neck and pulled him down to the soft ground. Her movements flowed into his as he hovered over her, never ceasing the kisses he covered her neck and face with as she laid back on the pine needles. His body covered every inch of her, making her feel light-headed as soft gasp fell from her lips and his kisses ventured lower to the tops of her breasts. She opened her eyes then, watching as he tasted every inch until his mouth closed over a pert nipple and sucked on her. 

She arched her back and moaned, lost in the strange sensation of wanting his mouth to pull on her both softer and harder. Her sounds only encouraged Solas further as his hand traced a line along her ribs, past her navel and did not stop at her trousers. His fingers curled around the band and he began rolling them off her. She lifted her hips to assist in removing the fabric, desperate to touch him with every part of her. After throwing the garment aside, he sat up and looked down at her, his silhouette striking in the moon light glowing behind him, and she could only imagine how the light was illuminating her skin now, showing him all the parts of her she wanted to give him. With a sigh, he placed his hand on her thigh and leaned over her again. He pressed his full body against her, the weight of him and the contact of their almost fevered skin intoxicating her. His hand tightened on her thigh, and he breathed hot air on her neck as his hand strayed up the inside of her legs, rising ever higher. 

His breathing was quick as he said her name, ‘Mionette…’ She held her breath as his fingers separated the folds of her, running his fingers around her entrance, then stroking higher to draw another circle over her clit. She took a slow breath in and moaned until her lungs were empty, grabbing onto his shoulders and pulling him more heavily onto her.

‘You’re so wet for me.’ He said the words close to her ear, his lips touching them with each word, voice dripping with lust. His mouth crept back to her nipples, tongue dancing on the sensitive flesh.

She reached for him, seeking the warm heat of his manhood in her hand. She met with no resistance since his trousers were gone, and she wondered at how lost in his body she must be to not remember him removing them. She pumped her hand up and down twice, the skin already slick from his dripping arousal. He directed his kisses down her abdomen, spending slow, deliberate attention to every inch of soft skin until his intent became clear.

Her face flushed in anticipation and she spread her legs further as his warm mouth joined the wetness of her own yearning. His tongue pressed into her entrance and she released a shout somewhere between shock and overwhelming pleasure. He hummed his approval into her heat, the vibrations of his deep voice only adding to her arousal and making her toes curl. Solas wasted no time sending his tongue up to her clit while he pushed two fingers inside her and curled them within. The work of his mouth made her dizzy, but she couldn’t slow the quick breaths which grounded her.

Leaving his fingers working inside her, he pulled away, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth while he looked down at her, completely lost in his sexual spell. He looked hungry—no, ravenous— and his gaze turned to something feral and wolf-like.

She couldn’t wait another second. ‘I need you inside me.’ And it was true, it was an ache, a thirst to feel him fill her and join with her in the way she had always wanted. She spread her legs slowly, almost teasingly, and he watched her open herself for him.

His body dominated her senses as he lined up his cock to her entrance. He teased her, entering only a centimetre and stopping to look up at her wickedly. She whined and bucked her hips, wanting to swallow his cock with her cunt after all this time. Finally, he pushed himself inside her slowly, allowing her time to adjust to his length. Her eyes rolled back, lost in the need he awoke in her as he buried himself to the hilt. He pressed his forehead to hers and his breaths verged more toward sensual groans as his body pushed and shuddered over her. 

His breathing slowed but did not calm, and he put his hand on her cheek looking into her eyes. ‘Vhenan. I have always known you were perfection.’ Right then he looked so sincere, so happy, that she believed him.

The moment did not linger as desire sparked in him and caused a flame. He withdrew almost entirely before slamming himself into her again. She shouted as he groaned, their voices joining in a chorus of pleasure and lust lifting beyond the tops of the trees. He pulled one of her legs then the other over his shoulders to get a better angle with which to pound into her willing body. Once she had secured her knees on his shoulders, he took her with all he had.

He was rough and hard, and as she rode the waves of their longing, she could feel with every thrust and corresponding jiggle of her breasts that over the past two years, he had imagined their bodies joined as often as she had. The force he used felt as if he was pouring all his fantasies into her at once as he gradually lost control of himself—his want to bury himself within her dominating everything else.

His hands wrapped more completely around her legs, his fingers pressing into her soft thighs as the angle his cock drove into her almost felt too much, but she wouldn’t ask him to stop or slow down. She watched him as he watched her, her head tilting back, his eyes squeezing closed in moments when the look of her was too overwhelming as she kneaded her own breasts to add to her pleasure. 

But she wanted something else. In a flash, she pulled her left leg off his shoulders and hooked it under his knees, causing him to lose his balance. She pushed herself off the ground and pressed herself to him as he rolled sideways with the momentum. Their bodies settled, and she was straddling him, his cock never leaving its position inside her.

She rolled her hips and ran one hand up his chest leaning in closer and closer until her lips pressed hard onto his. Her hair hung over them like a curtain separating them from the rest of the world as his hands snaked up her thighs and grabbed onto her hips, moving with her rotations. One hand broke away and snaked up her chest, pinching her nipple between his fingers. She moaned into his mouth, his cock twitched inside her, and she knew what she wanted to happen next. She straightened her back and braced herself with two hands on his chest as she added more violet thrusts to the motions her hips had already adopted. His fingers closed harder on her nipple in surprise and the pain shot straight through her, making her gasp in delight. Spurred on by the sound, his other hand moved from her hip to her clit, and her head swam.

She tilted her head to the sky, crying out and squeezing his torso between her knees as her muscles searched for release. Solas’s eyes filled with her while she danced over him, wreathed in a frenzy that neither of them could withstand. His thumb on her clit increased its speed and her body answered with quicker and deeper thrusts. His face was scrunched in concentration, his abdominal muscles contracting under her hands as they clawed at his chest, unable to control her actions under the feelings which were swallowing her. Heat pooled around her cunt and she knew she wouldn’t last much longer.

Solas’s fingers were moving more erratically and his facial expression was becoming harder and wilder as his mouth set into a snarl. His breathing was ragged as he gasped out, ‘Vhenan…I’m going to…’

She leaned down over him, hips working harder than ever as she pressed herself to him, breasts pinned between the two of them as she saw white and lost herself to her orgasm. Her body clenched and she dug her fingers into the earth near his head as she screamed his name shamelessly to the stars. As she clenched around his cock, his climax was not far behind as his mindless bliss joined hers and he dug his fingers into her skin, spilling himself inside her. The pleasure lasted until she collapsed onto him in exhaustion and ecstasy. They laid together, breathing hard against each other’s skin before Solas pulled her onto the wooded floor next to him, holding her closely against his chest.

Never had she felt such a climax, and now that the moment had passed, she felt giddy as warmth shimmered over the surface of her skin. She didn’t open her eyes, but felt for his mouth with her own and took his bottom lip in both of hers. He stirred then, and from his chest rose soft laughter. ‘You are almost too sweet to believe.’

‘And you’re almost too delicious to be real,’ she said, mirroring his smile. She pulled away to see his face, watching her as always.

‘This time with you was so precious. I will treasure it.’

She was no fool; she could read the words for what they were. Her eyebrows furrowed. ‘You’re…leaving?’ She pulled out of his embrace, the sudden lack of heat making her feel exposed and humiliated.

‘You knew I must, did you not? Think of where we are—’

She stopped trying to get away from him, sitting with her knees to her chest, one hand trapped between both of his in his attempt to keep her for a moment longer. Her hesitation brought clarity, something that, in hindsight, she had known somewhere deep within her, but hadn’t fully realised. 

They were in the Fade.

This was just…‘A dream.’

‘You understand the Fade better than that. And you understand our unique relationships to it. With your Focus and my own link to the Fade, this time was deliberate for both of us.’ His face was sullen, regretful. ‘Though you must forgive me. I had been trying for the last two years to make sure our paths didn’t cross here.’  
At last, she pulled her hand from his grip, the pain bloomed in her chest the same as it had the day she learned he had left. She spoke in anger, ‘I’m sorry to have disappointed you.’

‘Vhenan, please.’

‘Please what?’ she whispered, suddenly exhausted of this, of him. ‘What can I give you that you haven’t already taken?’ She stood as the light of the anchor shone brightly, back in its place again now that she had fully grasped where she was. The flash of light caused her pain, just as the anchor had been doing for the last few months, but her senses were too overwhelmed to react. She looked down on Solas one more time, naked and vulnerable on the ground, body turned and reaching for her.

Her anger extinguished slightly, and she sighed. ‘Ar lath ma, Solas.’ She paused, forming the words, ‘but do you not believe that I deserve better?’ He looked as if she had struck him, but with that last utterance she vanished, opening her eyes back in her chambers. She sat up in her bed, sunlight streaming through the stained glass. She ached between her legs and wondered if the marks on her neck and collarbone would exist on this side of the Veil too. She stumbled out of bed pulling her tunic over her head quickly, needing to see, needing to make sure. She rushed down the stairs of her quarters, through the bustling Main Hall where bowls of porridge and fruit were being prepared for those members of the Inquisition who were beginning to stir. She gritted her teeth and pushed open the door to the rotunda, purposeful steps pushing her forward. 

One moment longer and her eyes fell on what she sought. The once empty spot on the wall was covered in a painting. The perspective was from the ground of a forest, as if the viewer was laying on the ground, gazing up through conifer needles to a night sky filled with winking stars.


End file.
